


sus·pense

by lavenderlotion



Series: Lav's Original Fiction [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24631993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/pseuds/lavenderlotion
Summary: noun1. a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Series: Lav's Original Fiction [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1767991
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	sus·pense

“C’mere, sweetheart,” Mark urged, holding out his hand and watching as his husband’s smile went sweet. The skin around his eyes crinkled deeply, the crow’s feet growing more pronounced with his pleasure, fully exposed to his view as his glasses were sitting on the island.

“You’re ridiculous,” Anthony told him, but he still stepped forward, tangling their fingers together and placing his other hand on Mark’s shoulder, so he didn’t mind.

Music was crooning from the radio that sat nestled away on their kitchen counter. The oven fan was whirring quietly and was just slightly muffling the song, but the low, thrumming beat was still easy to hear. Mark wrapped his arm around the small of Anthony’s back and pulled the man close, feeling the coolness of the ring wrapped around his finger as he slipped his hand under Anthony’s shirt to press against bare skin. 

It was still so excitingly new.

“I’m not ridiculous for wanting to dance with my husband in our kitchen, am I?” he asked with a grin, voice light and teasing as he looked up at the man he loved, the man he’d  _ married, _ and felt his teasing grin stretch into a smile that was so wide it blurred his vision as they began to sway together.

Leaning forward, Mark rested his head on Anthony’s shoulder. He made a quiet noise of pleasure when the taller man kissed his forehead, before the two of them settled into an easy back and forth. They danced around their kitchen to the rumbling of a country hit—a preference of neither—while Mark kept half an eye on the stovetop and the chicken slowly grilling away. Most of his attention was on the long stretch of his husband’s body and the warmth of his skin under his hand; dancing was something Anthony had loved from the start and Mark had grown to enjoy solely for the smile it put on his lover’s face.

Letting Anthony lead was as easy as breathing and always had been. Mark had never been one to care what others thought of him, and despite what some people might assume about them based on how they looked, he was more than content with following as Anthony spun them around the kitchen. The song changed to one he recognized, and they continued moving at the same pace as before while Mark began humming under his breath.

Then, all at once, the music ground to a halt and all the lights flickered went out.

Pulling back, Mark blinked up into the sudden darkness. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust and for his vision to sharpen under the disorienting change. It was instinct to tighten his hold on Anthony’s hand as Mark stepped away and reached for where he’d left his phone on the kitchen island. He fumbled single-handedly for a moment before getting his fingers wrapped securely around the device.

He raised his hand to his face and tapped his phone to light up the screen, feeling Anthony’s chest brush the top of his shoulders as he crowded close to see over his shoulder.

“The WIFI’s out, but I still have service,” Mark told him, making an inquisitive noise when Anthony stepped away and let go of his hand.

He tracked his husband’s footsteps across their living room, snickering when Anthony bumped into what sounded like the couch and cussed. He couldn’t see him, not from the kitchen and without any light, but he listened to his progress and imagined the sour look that would be on his face for being laughed at. There was a whoosh of fabric, and then a pale fissure of light illuminated the room.

“The rest of the street is fine,” Anthony called. From the faint light coming in from the gap between their curtains, Mark could clearly see the worried expression on Anthony’s face.

“That’s odd.” Mark hummed under his breath as he caught his bottom lip between his teeth, tilting his head to the side. “Must be something with the breaker. Maybe a fuse blew?”

Anthony stepped to the side, letting the curtain fall closed and casting them back into darkness. A moment later, Mark heard him try to flick on their living room lamp. Nothing. “For the whole floor?”

“It is an old house,” Mark reasoned, pulling his phone up to flick on his flashlight as he moved through the kitchen. “I’ll be right back.”

Before he could grab the door handle that would open to the basement staircase, Anthony was rushing over with a tight expression marring his handsome features. “You can’t seriously think going into the  _ basement _ is a good idea, can you?” Anthony hissed, a note of worry bleeding into his otherwise harsh words.

Mark rolled his eyes, telling him, “I’m just going to check the electrical panel. I’ll only be a minute.”

Anthony’s fingers wrapped around his wrist. His hand was shaking, and when Mark looked closely, there was fear shining in his eyes.

“Baby,” Mark started softly keeping his voice soothing as he stepped closer to the door only for Anthony to tug him back. With a chuckle, he placated, “there’s nothing to worry about.”

“You say that now and then you get  _ murdered  _ by the homicidal sociopath that’s broken into our house to kill us!” Anthony threw his arm out in a wide arch, which if Mark had to guess, was him encompassing their death.

Mark stared wordlessly for three sluggish beats of his heart and then, exasperatedly, said, “I… honestly don’t even know what to say to that.”

Stepping away, he moved slow enough that Anthony’s fingers remained wrapped around his wrist as he took the last few steps to the doorway. Anthony followed him, though by the way he was muttering under his breath it was definitely reluctant. He opened the door with a flourish, half expecting a masked monster to jump out and actually murder them, if only because of how badly Anthony was worrying over just that happening. 

When nobody jumped out from the darkness intent on murdering them, just like Mark had expected, he flicked on the light switch.

Nothing happened.

“Huh, I guess the whole house is out,” Mark muttered under his breath, stepping down onto the first step but stopping when his left arm jolted back, seeing as Anthony hadn’t moved forward.

“We’re going to  _ die _ and we haven’t even married an entire month!” Anthony whispered in his ear, both of his hands tangling into the fabric of Mark’s loose sweatshirt and pulling it tight across his chest.

Mark snorted, not bothering to acknowledge  _ that  _ bit of ridiculousness with an answer. Thankfully, Anthony followed when he took his next step, and they made their way into the basement one step at a time. The flash on his phone wasn’t as bright as he would have liked, seeing as the basement  _ was _ a little… not scary, not at all, but it  _ was _ unfinished and consisted of cold cement, sharp corners and lots of unpacked boxes.

Technically there  _ could _ be something hiding in the shadows. Was there? Definitely not. It didn’t matter what Anthony said or how tightly he was pulling on the back of Mark’s sweater—they were fine. Totally, one-hundred-percent fine.

“Do you hear that?” Anthony whispered, lips brushing Mark’s ear in a way that would have been far more interesting if the cement wasn’t freezing his bare feet and Anthony’s worry wasn’t causing his heart to race against his ribs empathetically.

He heard  _ something.  _ He focused his hearing, his trail of thought already derailed. There… well, there was certainly something that he could hear over the pounding of his heart in his ears and Anthony’s breath, as he was still standing pressed to his back. The closer he listened the easier it was to make out, though he had no idea what could possibly be causing the faint rustling noise he could just barely make out. 

He took a slow, careful step forward, sweeping his phone around the room. The electrical panel was way on the other side of the room and the light barely reached that far. With bated breath, some of Anthony’s fear finally starting to bubble up his belly, they slowly crossed the room. The rustling only got louder, like something—or someone, he couldn’t help thinking—was moving about. Mark’s heart was racing.

Sweeping his flashlight around once more brought attention to the way his hand was shaking. Anthony was pressed right up against his back, towering over him with his hands still knotted in Mark’s sweater. His next step was reluctant, hardly more than a shuffle of nervous feet.

Slowly, with his heart racing and his breath still, he moved the flashlight lower and lower until—

Rats!

“Oh my god,” Mark breathed, his entire body deflating as the tension he hadn’t even realized had been building along his shoulders suddenly melted away. He slumped backward into Anthony’s chest, hearing his husband take a relieved sigh of his own. “They must’ve chewed through the wires. I’ll have to call an electrician in the morning.”

“Oh gross, call an exterminator while you’re at it,” Anthony hissed in disdain, and then he screeched when a rat hurried out from the corner towards them. He jumped into the air, hopping from foot to foot all the way to the staircase where he then stood on his toes, arms wrapped tightly around his waist as he sputtered.

Under the  _ murderous _ glare the love of his life was aiming at him, Mark doubled over with laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> had to follow the diagram of suspense found in my textbook which is problem->challenge(s)->resolution! i actually had a lot of fun writing this


End file.
